Common Cause: “Espada Was The Poster Child For Corruption”

Common Cause reacted today the conviction of former Sen. Pedro Espada on four counts of theft, saying the verdict “brings to a close an egregious and infamous chapter in New York’s legislative history.”

Espada, briefly the Senate majority leader during the 2009 coup who lives in Mamaroneck, Westchester County, was accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in public money from his Bronx health clinic. He lost a Democratic primary in 2010 to retain his Bronx seat.

“Former Senator Espada was the poster child for corruption and the whole sale flaunting of our campaign finance and ethics laws,” the good-government group said in a statement. “The fact of this trial has been a continuing indictment of New York State’s lax ethics oversight and enforcement. It’s unfortunate that it took a criminal indictment to curb Espada’s taxpayer supported excesses.”

Susan Lerner, the group’s executive director, said the Espada case should lead to stronger ethics laws.

“We hope that this sordid tale will strengthen the resolve of the members of the Joint Commission on Public Integrity (JCOPE) to vigilantly pursue corruption and ethics violations. We also hope this will inspire the Legislature to strengthen the ethics laws, which while recently improved, are not yet the model they need to be,” she said in a statement.